How To Lift a Curse
by EggplantWitch
Summary: When you have a whole city full of heroes, you're going to get a lot of evil sloshing around too, evil which can curse things. When you have a whole city full of heroes, you're going to get a lot of fights, quests and a whole buncha awesomeness.
1. Roy Almost Gets Eaten

**Hi guys! Welcome to an OC-centric story like you've never seen before. No author inserts, no cheap romances, near-to-none cliches and 100% guranteed no Mary Sues. I don't really have much else to say here, so just get on and read the damn story. Oh, yeah, one more thing: Anything you recognise I don't own.**

Before I tell you my story, you need to know who I am. I'm an average, simple, no-powers human, and my name is Eleanor. People who call me Ellie are probably going to have a sharp stick driven through their chest. Thought I should give you a fair warning. I'm not super-strong (though I can shove people pretty hard), I can't fly and I'm not psychic either. Just a stocky, dark-haired teenage kid with brown eyes and small feet. And a totally rad pair of Doc Martens, if I do say so myself. Anyway, I'm a journalist and photographer, and I decided to visit the infamous Smash City. I thought I had picked a boring time to come, but I was proven wrong. As in, _really_ wrong. Let me tell you what happened.

X X X

I took the new train to the city, with my bags bulging with general _stuff_. If there's one thing about me, I don't care what the heck I look like so long as I look decent. So most of that general _stuff_ was cables, disks, Poffins, cartridges, film and Gods-know-what-else. I hadn't paid much attention to the scenery, so it was a shock when I looked up from my laptop and saw that grass and trees had been replaced with barren red rock. You'd think a desert would be a weird place to create one of the best cities in the universe, but somehow it works. Something to do with a hand. I ain't much for the history kinds of things, if they don't have swordfighting and horseback battles in them. I shut down the laptop and watched as we entered the city. The kind of train they built to get there is a special one. It's not like a steam train, or a bullet train either. It's like those ones they get in Skyworld. You know, the ones that fly? They sort of trundle along on invisible strings, and if it's windy they rock about a bit. It wasn't windy today, which was good because I hate using my laptop when everything's sliding around and all I end up with is p9gg7yhffffff gu5rtfghjbmnnnnn scrawled across the screen.

"Arriving at Stadium Station in five minutes." A voice came from the speaker, so I started scuffing the sweet wrappers and other bits of junk either under the seat or into my bag. Then the train pulled in, and I heaved up all of my stuff and squeezed out of the door onto the station platform. I looked at my watch. It's kinda like a Poketch, only with less apps and widgets. I checked the map. The place where I was staying had a little blob over it, so I hefted my stuff up again and staggered off.

X X X

The Battlefield Lodge, which was the name of the place, was tailored for fighters. There was a smallish training ground in the back (not that I'd be using it) and they served a huge breakfast every morning, which was the selling point for me. The lady that ran it was pretty friendly too. She said that usually she didn't allow pets but she'd make an exception for me. Oh yeah, another thing I should've mentioned. I have a couple of Pokemon, for company, not for fighting with. I decided I wasn't cut out for it after Team Galactic came…they took a few of my Pokemon and I never got 'em back. But my favourite ones still live with me. A Luxray and an Eevee. Why am I talking about this anyway? They're not even relevant to the story (or are they?). Back to the point. After I'd shoved my stuff under the bed to unpack 'later' I romped downstairs and outside. There was someone in the training ground, slashing at one of the wooden dummies. He looked about the same age as me, with scruffy hair and clothes smudged with dirt. I decided that since he was wearing a laurel and a toga that he was from Skyworld. And the dang huge wings on his back, them too. He was using these little shiny blade things, blue with gold edges. That's the thing with Angels. They don't seem to care how effective their weapons are, so long as they look pretty. This guy was good, though. After a moment he somehow got them to stick together to make a _double _blade and minced the block of wood even more. He leapt back a couple of steps and looked like he was going to load an arrow onto the weapon (it didn't even have a _bowstring_. Call me stupid, but even I know that to fire an arrow you need a string). That was when he finally noticed me. He looked pretty shocked, so I grinned.

"How long have you been standing there?" he said, slowly.

"Ten minutes? Something like that. I thought that you Angels weren't allowed to come down here."

"II'm on a special mission, given to me by Paluntena herself," he said, pride swelling in his chest. I had no idea who Paluntena was, but the Angel dude made her sound pretty important. Now I could see his face properly (as in, he was staying still long enough for me to see) he looked kinda familiar.

"Aren't you…the Kid Icarus? Pit? Is that it?"

"Oh, you've heard of me." he smiled. "Captain Pit Icari of Paluntena's Army, at your service."

"I've seen you on TV a couple of times, fighting at the Stadium. Actually, I haven't seen any fights on TV for ages…"

"You mean you don't know what happened?"

"Do I?" I frowned.

"The Stadium. It's in disrepair. Broken. Bust."

"Why? What happened?" Pit drew a deep breath, like he was about to launch into a long story, but his chest deflated pretty quickly.

"Actually, I don't really know. Anyway, I've never seen you around here before. Who are you?"

"You can call me Eleanor. Ace reporter, photographer and eater of all that is fried."

"Fried…? I mean, aren't you kinda young?"

"Look who's talking."

"Oh…yeah. Point taken."

"And anyway, not a lot of people will take me seriously anyway. I was hoping to find something to do while I was here."

"There could be some kind of opening at the Smash Daily. Even I take a look at their stuff sometimes, and I don't read newspapers. Boring, normally."

"That's the thing with you hero-types. Good at logic puzzles, good at fighting, naught in any other thinking department."

"That's the thing with you reporters, always stereotyping."

"Careful."

"Why? It's not as if you can fight,"

"Really? Hey, Nute, come on out!" I stuck a hand into my satchel and flung the Pokeball at the floor. Pit took a few more steps backwards when Nute started to glare at him.

"Is that a Pokemon?"

"You bet."

"Oh. Good." and then he did something which annoyed me. He patted Nute in a fond kind of way. "I like Pokemon."

"I guess they must like you too. Nute ain't exactly a cute little kitten."

"All of Red's like me. Charizard especially."

"You're mates with Red? Cool!" I think I'll cut the conversation there. That was how I became buds with Pit. And also quite a lot of other people, but if you sit tight you'll find out about them later.

X X X

So let's move on to the next day. The Battlefield Lodge is more like a B&B sort of place. It has warm rooms equipped with a bed, a bathroom and most importantly a TV, and at ninish in the morning you can traipse down and get something to eat. Bacon, croissant and Nutella galore. All the things I wasn't allowed at home. Heheheh. Not all of the things they had on offer were typical fry-up stuff thouh. Some of them I didn't even know what they were. What the heck was a Skoof Bun? Or a Za? Whatever I didn't know, Pit, who was sitting on the other side of the room, seemed to be wolfing down. I thought maybe they were some kind of Skyworld thing? I like to think of myself as quite a cultural person, but the sky is literally my limit. Anyway, breakfast aside, I went to take Mystery and Nute for a walk and to see what this part of town was like. A busy part, I decided, from all the people bustling around, and there was a totally awesome park. They had swings that were _exactly_ the perfect height for my feet not to drag on the ground. Apart from the playground (I would've stayed longer only there were a few short kids staring at me, so I thought I had better move and let them have the swing) the rest of the place had people strolling around, walking their pets. I say _pets_ not _dogs_ because hardly any of them were dogs. I swear I saw someone with a huge spider. Eeeeugh. I took a seat at a bench because the soles of my feet were starting to hurt, and that was the moment which I met Roy. Kind of. If it weren't for Nute I really don't know what would've happened. One moment I was looking around at the scenery, wondering if there were any ducks on the pond, the next moment there was a yell and Nute was chasing after some red-headed kid with a sword. I almost stepped on Mystery as I ran over (she didn't even bat an ear). I didn't care about the red-head; I just didn't want anyone to pull a sword out on Nute.

"Nute! Return!" I chucked the ever-faithful Pokeball. The red-head looked at me, his eyes wide. They were an amazing shade of blue. I've seen a lot of blue eyes in my lifetime but none that were that colour.

"That thing was a _Pokemon_?" he panted.

"Not just _any_ Pokemon, _my_ Pokemon." I corrected. "What I want to know is what the heck did you do which made him so mad? Generally he doesn't _chase_ people for no reason. _Attack_, that's a different matter."

"I didn't do anything." he stuck his nose in the air.

"Nothing at all?"

"Nothing. Honest!" I decided to test his honesty. I have a really mean glare. It's the closest I have to a superpower. He quavered for a moment. "Itwasn'tmyfaulttheymademe!" he suddenly blubbled. As I suspected.

"Who?"

"Whoa!" I wondered if the short boy next to me had waited until now to speak. He had black hair and a round cap, complete with brownish eyes.

"Him!" the red-head pointed a finger at the short kid.

"What about me?"

"You made me poke the freaky blue lion thing."

"You mean you didn't chicken out?"

"Dude, I don't chicken out on any of your lame dares. Anyway, _she's_ scarier than the freaky blue lion thing!" he moved the finger to point at me.

"That freaky blue lion thing happens to be my Pokemon. Leave him alone." I said defensively.

"The lion's owner is a _girl_?" the short kid's jaw dropped. That really did annoy me.

"Is that any shock? Who _are_ you dudes anyway?"

"What's it to you?" the red-head was cold, but the short kid was much more eager.

"I'm Ness. He's Roy."

"Ness…hey, aren't you a Smasher too?" the name did make a small lightbulb ping inside my head.

"I'm a _veteran_." he said proudly.

"You've heard of Ness but you don't know about _me_? What kind of person are you?" this time it was Roy giving me the wide-mouthed look.

"A journalistic one. I only know about the best." I patted my trusty satchel. I've learnt the secret of hammerspace, though there is a limit to how much junk I can cram in there. All that was in there at the moment were my notepad, pencil and camera, which is even trustier than the satchel.

"Then you're not a very good one. I'm _way_ more awesome than he is."

"Are not!" they started to bicker in that really irritating way which boys have. I was just starting to wonder if I should just walk away when a new voice, that wasn't arguing loudly, spoke from by my side.

"They _always_ argue." he sighed. He was about the same height as Ness, with blond hair that was _so cool_ you don't even know. That was how I recognised him.

"Hey, aren't you Lucas?" I asked. He smiled.

"Yeah!"

"And…are these guys your friends?"

"Yeah. Sorry about them. Is your lion OK?"

"My lion is absolutely fine. And anyway, he's a Luxray, which is much cooler than a lion."

"You're a Pokemon Trainer too? I have a friend that's a Pokemon Trainer."

"Red?"

"How did you know?"

"I got a friend who knows him – hey, wait, you know Pit, right?"

"He's my friend. Same as those guys…except he doesn't argue as much."

"I met him the other day. Big wings were a bit of a giveaway."

"I know what you mean." Lucas nodded. I wish I could say that something exciting happened next, but not much really did, so I'll swerve off here and finally get to the point where the story begins. All this was just setting the scene. There'll be an adventure story starting before the end of the day.

**Well, there **_**will**_** be a proper plot. Honest! Just not yet! You could say that the prolouge is about four chapters long. As for update time, I don't really have a schedule, but I do have over 20 pages still waiting for me to publish, so we're not going to run out of stuff for a while. Now, if you could possibly click the little button down there that says REVIEW it'd mean a lot to me. See you later!**


	2. The Curse of Smash City

**Hey I'm back again! According to my sister, this chapter gave her the 'thrills', so there you are. I did try to push Eleanor's philosophical limits a bit, to make her seem more than this tourist kid who seems rather too smart. Well…she's that as well, but you know what I mean.**

The flying trains (in Skyworld they call them 'Transhifs') were only used to go to and from the city. To get around the city you took a kind of tram thing, only that too hovered a few inches off the ground, along a set route. More like a bus than anything else, only they smell nicer and there are less old people. I rode one over to the Stadium, the city's pride and joy. Or was once, anyway. Not anymore. I looked up at it. I hadn't seen a building so huge before, ever. But its shiny outer surface was tarnished and rusty. The ticket booth wasn't operating. There was still a bulletin board outside with lists of events long gone and champions that had gone on to fame. Ike, Samus, Lucario, Ganondorf. It was…sad, really. I'd never missed a single match on TV, even if I had to tape it, and now it had turned into this. What'd happened? I pushed on the gate but it was locked shut. Not that that was gonna stop me. I walked around the outside fence, looking for any holes. When I didn't find one, I walked back around to the part facing away from the street, put a foot in one of the gaps and pushed. I'm no climber, but the fence wasn't very high. And anyway, this was all in the cause of journalism, which is one of the best causes there is. My knees buckled as I landed on the ground, but now I was over I didn't care much. I found a door, rattled the handle and pushed. The walls were white, and the paper was peeling. It was dark, too, but I could see the end of the corridor, so I walked towards it. It was a pretty long corridor. There were others leading off of it but I didn't take them. I have a _hopeless_ sense of direction. _Goldfish _can navigate better than I can. That's why I have the map thing on my watch. It got pretty dark towards the middle, triggering a mild case of claustrophobia, but I kept on going. I figured that I must be walking underneath all of the stands. Finally I walked out into the light. I had to screw up my eyes, but once they had adjusted I looked around. I was standing at the edge of the arena. I walked right into the middle of the battle arena. A third of the seats on one side of the coliseum were crushed, as though something big had sat on them. This was a place where heroes had been born, trained, perfected until they were champions. And it had ended up like this. What had happened? Why weren't the royals doing anything about it? It was a well known fact that they loved watching the Brawls as much as anyone else. Sometimes, for special events they did the countdown and the triumphant cry of 'GAME!'…a chill made me shiver. Like echoes from the past.

'Today our champion will fight…'  
'The tournament starts…!'  
'He's looking determined…'  
'And the competitor strikes!'  
'The hero is parrying…'  
'That was a close call…!'  
'The champion is tiring…'  
'It's looking bad for our hero…'  
'I don't think he'll make it…!'  
'GAME…!'

I shivered again. The whole place reminded me of that one level…Ruined Zoo? Something like that. People had enjoyed themselves here, laughed, shouted, cheered. Now it was empty and so sad…

"What are you doing here?" someone spoke, which, as much as I hate to admit it, spooked me so much I almost shrieked. "Oh, I didn't mean to shock you," I turned around and looked up. There was a face I recognised well. The First King. The one on the side of the silver coins.

"Prince Marth? What are you doing here?" my heart was still recovering from being spooked, so my voice quivered a little. Talking to a royal in Smash City is more likely than talking to a royal anywhere else, or a prime minister or president or dictator or whatever leader it is you have. Because they're only the rulers of a small area (plus the kingdoms they originally came from, I guess) and the work is split between four. They can stroll around and do what they like most of the time.

"…remembering." he sighed, and looked at the empty stands.

"Me too."

"How did you get in?"

"Climbed over the fence."

"Ah. I _should _tell you to leave…no one is supposed to be here." he walked past me and stood in the centre. He looked up at the sky. I know that we were in a desert, but I swear the sky seemed cloudy and grey.

"But you won't?"

"Not yet."

"Good…" I couldn't think of anything else to say. Marth seemed sad too. He'd enjoyed the fights most of all. More often than not he'd be in the arena himself, duelling a competitor and making the girls swoon (not me, of course. I ain't for that kind of thing). I'd watched him on TV, and he was brilliant. But courteous too. He'd never taunt a foe. And he'd always shake the hand of the loser at the end, too. I suddenly thought that now would be a good time to find out what happened. Almost subconsciously I pulled out my notepad. "What happened?"

"Hm?" he turned around.

"What happened to the Stadium?"

"Oh. That. What do you think happened?" I looked back at the crushed stands.

"Attack of the Fifty Foot Whatever?" Marth smiled faintly.

"Close, I suppose. Even I'm not wholly sure. A monster came one night, trampling houses and knocking down buildings…" I started to scribble stuff down.

"Capturing attractive women?" return of the faint smile.

"No…Zelda told me that it's a curse. Whenever there is darkness there is light to oppose it. Likewise, whenever there are heroes there are villains to oppose them…this city has thousands of heroes living in it. According to Zelda, the monster was made from the evil left in people's hearts. That every villain's mind and soul, every hero's Dark side grouped together for that one night…we managed to drive it off, but we didn't kill it. We rebuilt the houses, of course, but whenever we came to the Stadium, it…" his voice faltered. "We just…_couldn't_."

"Like something was telling you not to?"

"Exactly like that. If we continued to hold the fights then the rivalry and darkness would come back, bringing back the curse..."

"And you can't do _anything_ about it?"

"No…no, I don't think so."

"There has to be something. This is where every hero I've ever seen has become famous! There a hundreds of people just waiting for a quest to happen!"

"If something could be done, then something would be done,"

"I know that something can be done. This is Smash City! Anything is possible!"

"I really do admire your strong beliefs, but…we just can't find anything to do about it without running the risk of calling the monster back,"

"Wish on the Triforce!"

"Zelda's already tried that, and she couldn't get it to work." I thought for a moment, before coming up with another suggestion.

"Wish on…a Roc's tail-feather!"

"What on earth is a Roc?" he gave me a funny look, like he couldn't believe that a child knew more than him.

"Giant bird. Wingspan of sixty metres. It generally takes a lot of persuading to get one to give you a tiny little foot-long feather. But it's worth a try." I shrugged.

"I've never heard of one before. Fascinating,"

"Oh wait. They only live in Skyworld. They're Paluntena's sacred animal. Don't think she'd be too happy if we slew one."

"I think there's an Angel living in Smash City. A Captain of some sort or the other."

"I know him. I should ask!"

"Maybe you should," once again he smiled in a weak way. "But as I said, neither of us should be here. Allow me to escort you out."

"Well, alright." I wasn't going to turn down that offer. That'd be a story for grandchildren. The First King of Smash City…it doesn't fit him as well as Prince Marth does.

"I never got your name." he said as we walked out.

"Eleanor. I'm a journalist. Thanks for all the info,."

"Don't mention it, I suppose," he dragged the rusty gate back, letting it shut with a huge clang that made the fence rattle. "Maybe there is something we can do. Maybe not…but it was nice to talk to someone about it." I wondered if I should mention the echoes I heard. And then decided not to. I had a blog to write.

"Not a lot of people get to talk to the First King in such a cool way. See you on the side of the silver coin…"

"Good luck with your, um, reporting. Farewell."

"Bye," I watched him disappear off into the crowd. You think he'd be easy to spot, what with his blue hair, but some of the people here have _pink_ hair. And _green_. Sometimes _at the same time_. I didn't know what I wanted to do next. I still felt spooked after hearing those echoes. I hitched my satchel back up over my shoulder, and strode off into the crowd.

**Holy crap this whole four-page text is made up of **_**two **_**paragraphs. That's what I get for using too much dialouge…anyway, there was originally a bit from Marth's POV where Samus is scolding him in the Palace for running off to the Stadium again…he's not supposed to be there. But I deleted it. Anyway (again)…what can be done about the Stadium? Tune in next time to find out!**


	3. How To Make a Gladiator Yelp

**Welcome back to Smash City, amigos. Before I let the Brawling commence I have a bone to pick first. The Traffic page says I've been getting lots of readers but only a few reviews. Aw, come on, guys! You must get that warm fuzzy feeling when someone reviews your stories too! It'll make my day. Pleee****eeeaaaase? *pulls Toon Link face*. Anyway, enough of the grovelling, I COMMAND YOU TO READ.**

As much as I'd like to stick around and mention all the blah-blah-becoming-mates-with-Pit-and-Roy-and-a-new-guy-called-Isaac-moved-in-over-the-corridor stuff, I'm pretty sure you want to get to the interesting part. So…let the interesting part commence. It started when I was uploading all the pics I'd taken over the past week. One of the Palace, one of my room, one of Nute chasing Roy (again), one of Toon Link, one of Pit and me, a few of Isaac…lots, really. I jumped when someone hammered on the door.

"Eleanor! Open up!" it was Pit, sounding pretty excited.

"It's unlocked." Pit burst into the room, making the pages of a book I had been reading flutter and scattering feathers everywhere. He looked pretty damn excited.

"Look!" he thrust a piece of fancy paper at me, so I read it. It was from 'HRH First Queen, Princess Zelda', inviting him to a competition at the Palace to go on a quest to locate a magic gem thing which could save the Stadium.

"Are you gonna enter?" I asked, flicking the paper back at him.

"Heck yes!"

"Is it spectator?"

"I dunno."

"D'you think it'll be like a Brawl?"

"Wow…I sure hope so!"

"Then heck yes I'm coming too. If I write a good article on it…"

"I hope you're allowed. Half of the fun was having the audience all cheering your name…Pit! Pit! Kid Ic-a-rus! Whoooo!" I couldn't help but grin. Pit, like most boys his age (don't hurt me!), is pretty dumb. But part of the grin was that fact that I knew that there was a way to save the Stadium. Maybe Marth had listened.

"I told him there was a way…" I didn't realise I'd said this out loud until Pit replied to it.

"Who?"

"Prince Marth."

"You've met Marth?"

"Yeah. I went into the Stadium and he crept up on me."

"That would make sense…Marth loved the Brawls. They say he used to argue with Zelda over who was going to be the commentator…sweet Paluntena, this is going to be awesome!"

"Maybe all the other dudes got one too."

"Let's go and ask Isaac!"

"Sounds like a plan." I stood up and followed Pit outside. And that was when the excitement _officially_ started.

X

Pit had rocketed off to go and talk to Toon, so I was left with Isaac. Don't get me wrong, Isaac's an awesome kid, just sometimes I get the feeling that…

"I can read your mind? Yeah. Sometimes,"

"Don't do that," I scowled at him. He shrugged and flicked his hair. If there is one thing I like about Isaac, it's his totally awesome hair. Since we were here alone, and I had my notebook and pencil… "Hey, Isaac, can I ask you a few questions?"

"That depends," he raised an eyebrow. "But go on."

"Just to clarify, you're going to enter, aren't you?"

"Is the 1-Up good for you?"

"I'll take that as a yes. Aand…do you think you'll get to fight Pit? Would you win?"

"Of course I would. He's good…but not _that_ good."

"He _is_ the Captain of an army,"

"And?"

"Hm. What do you think will happen? Will it be like the old Brawls, commentated on and watched by Prince Marth and Princess Zelda?"

"Wow…that would be cool. I really hope so. Why are you asking me all this anyway?" I patted my satchel and winked.

"All in the interest of journalism."

"Should I be worried?"

"Oh yes. Hey, why are we still here anyway? Let's go and sign you up for the competition!"

"Now that sounds like a good idea."

"Race you downstairs."

"Hey! No fair!" I may not be agile, but once I can get going I can pick up quite a sprint.

X

I still had no idea if I was allowed in or not by the time all of my troops were lined up (i.e. all of my mates had signed up for the tournament), but no one was going to stop me from watching the first fight – a good old fashioned four-player Brawl. Every man (or woman) for himself (or herself). Isaac vs Pit vs Luigi vs Samus. I'd seen all of them fight at some stage. Samus was my favourite female Brawler, and I'd always preferred Luigi over Mario. I would be glad when this was finished, though, since all Pit and Isaac had talked about since finding out who they were fighting was who was the best. It was starting to drive me insane.

"Hey, Eleanor, maybe I can get you backstage access!" Pit grinned at me.

"You think so? That would be _awesome_." oh heck yes it would be.

"We go in this way. Come on." he led me off down a different corridor. The bouncer, a Hammer Bro, stood by the door.

"Kid Icarus, right?" he said. Pit nodded. "She has to stay." he pointed to me.

"She'll leave soon. Please?"

"Nope."

"Pleeeaaase?" he repeated. Considering he's a teenage boy, Pit can pull puppy-dog-eyes off almost as well as Toon Link can. No one can beat Toon Link on the puppy eyes. Even I, the cold-hearted witch, want to give him a hug when he does that. Unable to stop myself grinning like an idiot, I followed Pit in. Isaac was already there, running a comb through his hair and Samus was sitting on a bench buffing her helmet.

"Oh, Eleanor, hey," Isaac smiled at me, before smirking at Pit. "Hello, feather-face,"

"Hullo, Isaac." was Pit's weak reply. When you have bird wings and a name like 'Pit', it's pretty easy to come up with insults for you. Less so if you're a teenage, fair-haired psychic dude that can make young girls swoon (once again, bar me. Cool hair or not).

"Who's she?" said Samus. I wondered if I should ask for an autograph but dissed the idea quickly. I didn't want to seem like a noob.

"My friend," said Pit. "And Isaac's, too, but she's rooting for me. Right?" I raised my eyebrow at him.

"I'm not getting involved. I'm rooting for Samus." I pointed to her, while the others muttered things like 'traitor…'. Boo to them, I say.

"Cheers," Samus gave me a smile. Her eyes flicked from Isaac to Pit, before raising both her eyebrows at me. I knew exactly what she meant. I nodded, and rolled my eyes. "Once they let me out there, I'll show you all up." Pit didn't reply to that. Samus was a deadly woman and not to be crossed. I figured he was saving all of his insults and other idiotic remarks for Isaac later.

"Where's Luigi?" he asked.

"He was here a moment ago. I think he went out to go talk to Mario or Peach or someone." we all looked at the door as a Hylian messenger stuck his head through the door.

"You're up soon," he told them. "And you have to leave." he said to me.

"Alright. Good luck, guys! I'll enjoy watching you beat each other up!" I waved at them and walked out. The messenger guy kindly directed me to somewhere where I could sit.

X

I don't have a lot to say right now other than: Expecting a cool fight scene? TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME. Thankfully there was a crowd, mainly of friends and family of those fighting, so I wasn't totally on my own with my stupid cheering and whoops. I could see the royals on the platform, with Zelda commentating but I could hear Marth cheering when a good comeback was made, and flinching whenever someone got hit real bad. The thing with Brawls is that there's some kind of magic around, which means that no one ever really gets that hurt. If you do badly you'd feel sore afterwards, like a slob like me does after exercise, and if you're up against Ganon or Ike or Falcon or someone beat-'em-up like that you could get left with bruises. But no bloodshed. Spilling blood leads to disqualification. Mainly it was just like any ordinary Brawl, people hacking at each other and firin ther lazorz and making giant psynetic hands knock people out of the air with so much force that feathers fly everywhere, but at the two points when a Smash Ball appeared, to hell with everything else. Luigi got the first one (it was pretty damn hilarious seeing Pit staggering around like an idiot – I filmed it to blackmail him with at a later date), causing Isaac to commit gladiatorial suicide, but Pit got the second. If you've ever seen a Brawl on TV and seen Pit summon his army, it's nothing like it is when it's live. His eyes glowed in a scary way and he leapt into the sky. There was a blast of air which sent everyone staggering backwards a step, if they were standing up (which I wasn't).

"ALL TROOPS…MOVE OUT!" he shouted. It's when he does that that everyone remembers that he's _not_ any old kid. He's the captain of an army. It's…kinda scary, I admit. The Centurions flew at high speeds through the portal, going so fast that they blurred in the air. Luigi was knocked out of the arena by them, but Samus remained strong. She was wearing 20kg armour, after all. I didn't know who I wanted to cheer for, so I just cheered generally and hoped they thought I was cheering for them. It was so good to watch a Brawl again, and live no less. When they started to get tired I found my heart beating faster with adrenalin, just like it had used to. It's such a great feeling. It makes you want to leap in the air and shout, makes you want to rush in and fight too. Maybe it's inherited. I don't know. I refrained from cheering, but I did jump up and grin when Pit was sent spiralling out of the arena and landing on the floor beyond with a crash (eh, he'll be fine. He's an Angel; he can fall from crazy high distances and not get smooshed).

"GAME!" Marth shouted before Zelda even had a chance to stand up. "Samus Aran is the winner once again, with Pit Icari as a close second, Luigi at third and Isaac in last. All of the contestants put up a fair fight, and all deserve a place on the quest! Only time will tell!" he grinned at the audience, and we all cheered. As they did all of that stuff, I squished my way past everyone else in the front row and darted over to the door. I don't know what happened to the bouncer but he wasn't there now, so I pushed the door open. Samus had removed both of her armour arms and her helmet and was gulping down a glass of water, Luigi was helping himself to a couple of Mushrooms, Isaac was sprawled across the bench, totally flaking out and Pit was the one grinning at me.

"Hey Eleanor! Thanks for cheering for me. I could hear you." he said.

"I can scream pretty damn loud if I want to," I grinned back, before whipping out my camera. "Everyone say cheese."

"Do I have to?" Isaac groaned. I played around with the zoom for a moment before taking the picture.

"You were all awesome. Isaac! That thing you did with psynergy! The wave thing! That was so cool it blew my mind!"

"Th'nks…"

"Does he need a glass of water or something?" I looked at Pit, who shrugged.

"Isaac, get up. You're not dying. Some of us want to sit down."

"Too much effort." he muttered. So I walked over and poked him hard in the ribs. _That_ got a result. He leapt up like someone had put a tazer in his pants. "YOWWW! Don't _do _that!"

"Not that tired, were you?" I took advantage of the seat space and sat down, eventually ending up being squished between Pit and his huge wings and Isaac. "I got some cool action pics of you guys."

"Can I see?" Pit looked at me eagerly.

"I always look stupid in photos." Isaac muttered, but he was smiling.

"And some good footage of Pit in Luigi's Negative Zone…heheh."

"Oh Gods…" Pit groaned. I grinned at him.

"Be nice to me or else it could be up on YouTube before the end of the day. Hey, should we go find the others? I saw Roy and Ness in the crowd too."

"Yeah, lets," he nodded and we all stood up. "Then lunch?"

"Then lunch."

"Best idea yet."

"See you, guys." I said to Samus and Luigi, who acknowledged our departure with a nod or a wave and we wandered out into the cool hallway.

**Credit to the ****splendiferous Brawl in the Family webcomic for Waluigi Time (if you haven't read it, **_**whyyyy**_**?) line, and credit to my friend/reviewer ClumsyHeart17 for the 'cold hearted witch' line, since she accused me of being so after I stated I disliked romance. (I don't hate you really). I can't think of any corny lines to put now, so play ending credit music of your choice NOW.**


	4. Little Cocktail Sausages

**Damnit, I always forget about the dialogue thing. Everyone, grind me about it until I remember to do it all the time, 'kay? Now, according to Eleanor this is where the story **_**really actually properly **_**starts, and I guess I agree with her, so you can go ahead and read it.**

A week passed. It was one of the best weeks of my life. Every day there was a tournament, and every day I managed to worm my way into free seating, accompanied by a kid with a flaming sword or some other miscellaneous dude or even getting to go up onto the royal's platform once the fight was over by talking to Marth. I could tell he was excited as much as I was. Sometimes I would end up going with a blond with awesome hair and a Pokemon Trainer, and once I went skipping over with a new mate of mine – a seemingly cute looking little girl in a pink parka, Nana. We met in a similar(ish) sort of way as Roy and I did. Only instead of being chased by a giant lion, she was petting a cute lil' fox thing. Mystery is like a cat sometimes and like a dog at others, and like a dog she's faithful to anyone who scratches her in between the ears for a few seconds. Anyway, a week after the first Brawl came the first one I didn't get to see live, since that morning I'd woken up feeling snotty and sleepy so I stayed in bed all morning and watched it on TV while uploading out all the new pictures and movies I had onto my laptop. None of my friends were fighting today. It was Mario vs Captain Falcon vs Fox vs Lucario. I'd seen all of them fight before. While Mario is the idol of any Nintendite, Link seems to be the patron of Smash City. He's iconic of all that a hero should be, I think. He's courageous and benevolent, rescues princesses and wields a sword and above all looks cool (girl-swooning rule applies here). Anyway, I'm trailing off again. One thing I thought was that all of the competitors in that fight had something I wanted. Captain Falcon has an awesome punch, Mario could wield fire, Lucario could read minds and Fox _has a tail_. Seriously, a tail would be awesome! But I kept an eye on the action while I was waiting for everything to load. Falcon shield-rolled around Fox and caught both him and Lucario in a Falcon Kick. I, personally, am not one of Falcon's many followers. I think he's vain and loud, cool punch or not. I've never watched an F-Zero race, but it really doesn't sound like my kind of thing. Mum never wanted me to watch them. She said nothing good ever came out of it. People died. People die all the time. Idiots in cars dying is something I can live with. Perfectly nice people dying in cars is the reason why there aren't any in Smash City. Trams are free and go just about everywhere, which is good when you can't drive and don't have any money.

X X X

I have an apology to make. You know I've said a few times before 'this is where the story starts'? Well, I lied. _This_ is where the action starts, I'm pretty sure. And it started with being pounced on by three different boys (dude that sounded wrong).

"WE MADE IN INTO THE QUEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSST!" three boys being Roy, Isaac and Pit, and me being the one sitting with them at the time they received the letter.

"Dude, I ROCK!" Roy pumped his fist in the air.

"Yes! I can finally do something to help!" Isaac grinned and flicked that oh-so-cool hair.

"Thank you, mighty Paluntena!" Pit, always the religious one, flicked a short symbol with his fingers, which I'd seen him do before, usually when he was talking about his 'mighty Paluntena'. And me, I winced and rubbed my ears.

"Bust my eardrums, why don't you," I scowled at them, before grinning like they all were. "Totally _awesome_!"

"Who else do you think made it on?" asked Isaac. Out of the three of them, he seems to think about the impact sending a giant pysnetic hand at stuff does, instead of just hacking it to pieces/volleying it with arrows in the hope nothing bad happens. Heck, if I could fight I'd probably hack everything to pieces or volley it with arrows.

"Looks like we'll find out at this dinner thing. Reckon we can bring a reporter with us?" Pit asked, smiling at me. Boy, it sure felt great to have friends that made you feel superior _and_ always found a way to get you VIP access to just about _everywhere_.

"I sure hope so. Let's go see if the PSI kids and Toonie made it in. I need to take Nute for a walk anyway." I patted the pocket which Nute's Pokeball was in. Roy flinched.

"Aw, I don't like that thing."

"I promise he won't eat you."

"Fine. Onwards!" he pointed a finger, and thus we went onwards.

X X X

Stupidly (though I guess we were swanning around with the royal family), we had to wear something vaguely formal to go to the dinner meeting thingymabob. I didn't have anything like that and I wasn't all that fussed so long as it fitted me, so I just went in some black trousers and a white blouse. Pit had all of his shiny medals and Captain's stripes, and he looked pretty damn important. Roy just polished up anything shiny which he usually wore, and Isaac…eh, he looks cool in anything. Neither of the PSI kids had made it, nor had Red or Toon (sadface). But they all looked pretty pleased that some of the Kid Smashers were going. And I was pleased that since all my best friends were going off and having fun without me I'd still have Toon, Lucas, Ness, the Ice Climbers and Red to chill with. That was the first time I went into the Palace when it _wasn't_ a Brawl, and the place looked a lot different from the parts which I'd seen. Like all the pictures I'd seen of Hyrule Castle. All velvet carpets and sparkly chandeliers that just screamed to be swung on. The main room, where everyone was milling around and chatting and waiting for Zelda to give her speech, had a huuuuuuuuuuge chandelier (like that one in the Zora Temple in Twilight Princess. Know the one?) in it. I looked around the room, armed with my camera. Link and Ike were by the punch bowl, Solid Snake was chatting to Samus, who was leaning against the wall, Marth was watching over his domain on the balcony, Captain Falcon could be heard from right the other side of the hall (I started to pity my three mates at that point) and, yeah, the place was packed with everyone that you'd expect. No one really seemed to know just what had happened, where were they going and what they were they going to do once they got there. So everyone shut up (even Falcon, after a moment), when Zelda raised her voice and called attention to herself and Marth.

"Welcome," she said. "Heroes of Smash City. As you all know, you have been chosen for your ability to come on this quest. I will be leading the quest and Marth will be assisting me. It will be a long journey, and I beg of you to attempt to get along with everyone in this group. Teamwork will be vital. Everyone will have their weak moments and everyone will triumph but only if you do not fight among yourselves. Marth." she looked to Marth, who nodded and stepped forwards.

"We're going to an island off the coastline – yes, it's a long way to the coast. We've had that sorted out. The island is called Isle D'oint and is home to a legendary treasure that the ancient people made as a gift to a 'Higher Race', but the Gods rejected their gift and left it on the isle. It has the power to lift curses, from what we have gathered, and unite all good hearts. Or so the legend says. The truth is, no one really knows for sure. _But_," he raised his voice and cut across all the guys that had started talking. "We do know that it will be able to aid us _somehow_. The land we are going to is entirely uncharted. Great dangers and perils lurk there that no man – or indeed, woman – has ever returned from," then he put a more light-hearted face on. "But I'm fairly sure you've heard this all before at least twice, since I'm fairly sure I have. If we work with each other and take whatever is thrown at us, we can triumph," he drew his sword and held it up. "For the city!" Man, that guy can sway a crowd real easy. _Awesome_.

"For the city!" we all shouted back. A little thought ran through me like a supersonic caterpillar. What if I could go with them? My first quest! Maybe my parents would notice. I could be famous! I could be…a hero! I had three mates who I'd become pretty tight with in the space of a few weeks, maybe I could use them…but how? I had no idea how I could persuade the Bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom to do such an unwise thing as allowing a stocky teen girl with brown hair and brown eyes and no fighting skills on a quest as important as this one. What would I do? Report the whole event? Huh…actually, that's not such a bad idea. Maybe I could sneak away in a cardboard box (it's always worked for Snake). Maybe I could disguise myself as someone else (like that's ever worked for anyone unless there's idiotic mooks involved). Truth was, I couldn't get on that trip. And that wasn't a fun thought.

X X X

What _was_ fun is what happened after the buffet was opened. I didn't like a lot of the stuff there (they totally destroyed the chocolate cake by putting _strawberries _on it. Poison!) so whatever I _did _like I piled like a dozen of onto my plate. Like those tiny little cocktail sausages on sticks, and olives and, well, it's not important to _you_ what I ate, though I'm sure as the sky is blue that it was important to me. I was eating an olive when a voice belonging to someone who wasn't there spoke in my ear.

"Ew, you like olives? _Weird_."

"Olives are awesome," I retaliated. "Uh. Where are you?"

"Beeehiind yooooouu." I looked over my shoulder and watched the little blue light hover forwards. It left sparkles in its path, and when I saw the little wings I almost dropped my plate.

"_Navi_?"

"Oh hey you've heard of me."

"_The_ Navi?"

"Yup."

"Wow!" I could practically feel the proud grin on Navi's face, even if I couldn't see it.

"Haven't met a fan in a while. It's always Link. Pah. Without me he'd have been minced by a Darknut or whatever ages ago."

"I heard that you're the brains of the operation." I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Oh yes. Link's a good kid and all and can fight like no one else, but I can count all of his braincells on one hand."

"I hang out with three kid heroes all day, I know what you mean."

"I never saw you at any of the Brawls, by the way. Who are you?"

"Just a reporter kid, here with her mates while they get to romp off and have fun without me."

"Number of times Link's left me at home you wouldn't believe. Surprised Martha let you stay." I could sense Navi rolling her eyes.

"I like Marth." I defended my favourite royal.

"Oh whoa whoa whoa. Are you Eleanor?"

"Yeah…?" now I was surprised. The great Navi had heard of me.

"Martha mentioned you before. You snuck into the Stadium, right?"

"Yeah."

"Ninja skills." FYI: Ninjas are only ninjas if you _can't see them_. Just thought I'd say that while I have the chance.

"Fence climbing skills."

"You puny humans and your lame powers."

"Hey, all you can do is fly!"

"Not true. I can do _magic_."

"Like what?"

"I can shrinkify people and…uh, light fires. Girl fairies only get taught healing magic, and I never paid attention in lesson," I remembered lessons back when I went to school. Education in a place where a lot of kids leave school at 10 to become masters of little furry creatures is pretty slack, thankfully for me. "If you're the reporter kid does that mean you're coming with us to…report on stuff?"

"I wish," I pulled a face and sighed. "I can't do anything interesting other than write and take pictures. No good at fighting."

"Bearing in mind who you're talking to."

"I don't have any heroes to guide either."

"What about the klutzy looking kid with the wings?" my eyes wandered over to said kid. He was looking pretty annoyed at Snake, who I'd heard was badass but also a big jerk.

"What, Pit? He's the captain of an army. He doesn't need my help."

"What, Link? He's the Hero of Time. He doesn't need my help." she let that sink in for a moment.

"Zelda wouldn't let me."

"What about Marth?"

"Don't think so. He wouldn't want me to risk my life blah blah blah, stupid responsible adults."

"That's what makes Link such a cool guy. He's about as irresponsible as they come. Fun! And, hey…who said anything about getting legal confirmation?"

"What do you expect me to do? Disguise myself as a bush and sneak onboard?"

"Eleanor, listen," Navi's voice got sterner, so I listened. "This place has a lot of heroes and a lot of idiots, usually they're the same person. They need smart people to be the glue and stop them from beating each other up. I've seen it happen, and it isn't pretty. Also, every hero should have a quirky sidekick."

"Quirky…?" Navi would've grinned if you could see her face.

"I like you, Eleanor. More smart girls on the trip means more pressure taken off of me. _So_…I'll help you get on the trip."

"But I can't fight or do survival skills or _anything_!" but my heart did leap. I could feel the adrenalin already rushing around. Like the excitement I felt with Brawls, it must be an inherited thing.

"There are loads of people here who can do both at the same time,"

"I don't want to be babysat. And I don't like spending time without too much -"

"HEY! LISTEN!" Navi cut me short of my rambling. You've probably noticed but I do that a lot. And I talk faster when I get nervous, apparently. "Do you want to come or not?" I thought about that for a moment. It'd give me a story to tell. If I came out alive it'd make me a hero. A little shudder ran down my arm to my hand and back again. I nodded.

"Yes."

"Then…hey, do you have hammerspace?"

"Yep."

"Then bring all the stuff you want to take with you in your hammerspace. Say you're waving off your mates or something. I'll come find you and shrink you down, and from then on it'll be a cinch. And by that I mean I'll come up with something later, _it's always worked before_."

"If I were going to trust anyone with such a loose plan as that, I would trust you."

"Good. Now, go forth and fulfil your duty," I reckon she must've saluted me, so I saluted her back, just as Link wandered over. "Hey, pointy-ears. What's up? Huh? Oh. Right," and she drifted off, and Link hadn't said _anything_. He generally doesn't. I heard that a few people can understand what he wants to say just by watching his face and body movements, and his eyes. Even if he doesn't change expression much either. Navi and Zelda can do it, but no one else, so far as I know.

**Link finally appears, hurrah. But he's not important to the story, really. ****Navi is, and in my universe you can't have one without the other. Maybe some of the others will become more important…and for that one of you who does know who will become rather important, no spoilering! See you back here, when we'll be starting the quest!**


	5. Hat, Hair, Dandruff

**Another chapter where not a lot happens, but I'm just preparing you for the chapters to come. Anyway, w****e're onna boat! Well…not yet, but you will be at some point in this chapter (don't stand too close to Link). This bit was quite fun, and I tried to imagine what this all would feel like if it actually happened to me. Can't say I found it easy. Reading it is much easier.**

Okay, so _this_ is where the quest starts, and I'm not going back on it. I packed up all of my stuff and the lodge lady said that since my room wasn't going to need cleaning and I wasn't going to need feeding she wouldn't charge me anything extra. I packed both Pokeballs and all the food and Poffins I could afford. I packed my camera and several changes of battery. I took my notepad and pencil, the one with the rubber on the end (and, of course, a pencil sharpener). I took my Doc Martens and my wellies, as well as my raincoat and my totally awesome hat. And all the changes of underwear I owned. I'd been camping before; I _knew_ how this stuff worked. I packed all my summer clothes, in case it was warm and all my winter clothes in case it was cold, so that the weather couldn't catch me out at all. I couldn't fit a lot of it in my satchel, but I did have a hammerspace bag, a small one, which everything else fit in, with room to spare. So I went down with Isaac and Pit to the train station. They (rather, we) were going to go by _uber uber_ fast Transhif, twice as fast as any old bullet train. I hoped it wouldn't be windy. I heard that Link gets seasick (unlike Toon, who pines for the sea). And that wouldn't be pretty. That made me remember that we were going on a boat to get to the island, and that didn't make me feel any less nervous. What would happen if I got caught or it went wrong? But I had to take risks. That was what heroes did, right? Maybe by the end of this I would be one. I exchanged a farewell fist-pound with Roy (who thinks he's more hardcore than the other two), and arm hug with Pit (who freaked when I accidentally touched his wing) and just a standard (manly) hug with Isaac, and did my best to pretend like I wouldn't see them for ages.

"Don't get yourselves killed, spare us all by having a change of underwear once in a while and no fighting with each other," was my very sensible advice to them. "And heck, have as much fun killing other stuff as you like."

"Don't worry, we will," Pit grinned. "You do the same, right? I'll see if I can send you a message or something when we're almost there."

"That'd be cool. You guys had better go now. Get all the window seats and make sure you don't end up next to Snake!"

"Oh heck yes. Bye!" they said bye again and then raced off. I started to get even _more_ nervous then. Where was Navi? What if she didn't show up? I'd be left here after all. But she did turn up. A whisper said from by my ear.

"Hey, listen."

"Navi!" I looked at the blue light by my shoulder

"Sssh! We need to go somewhere where there aren't crudloads of people around."

"Uh…girls' loos?"

"That'll do. Quick, before Link notices I'm not in his hat anymore." she fluttered off, so I followed her, blood still rushing around my body.

X X X

I thought Navi would just shrink me down so I was a couple of inches high. I didn't realise she would turn me into a _fairy_. Being shrunk down felt weird, like my skin was becoming tight. All I can say is: thank the Gods that my clothes shrunk too. I was pretty much the same in mini-form as I was big. Apart from I could see Navi. As in, the actual fairy, not the little blue light. And there was a weird sensation from my back.

"OHMYGOD," I jumped. There were two huge dragonfly wings there, which had somehow managed not to destroy my shirt (magic!). "You turned me into a fairy!"

"Shush! And yeah, cool, I know right?" she grinned, and this time I could tell. She had a little fang on the right side of her mouth. Unlike dumpy old me, she was tall and thin with pale blue skin, a dark blue leotard and short, scruffy blue hair which may or may not have tiny birds living in it. "Come on. Let's get back to Link. You can ride in his hat until I say so, OK? He won't notice. Oh, yeah, word of warning, his hair is never all that clean,"

"Ew. Gross. If you tell me he has lice too I'll scream,"

"Nah. He may or may not have dandruff. Just…don't think about it too hard, OK? Let's go." she fluttered her wings and they 'ftdthdthd'ed in a nice way. Then I realised: I could fly too. I tried doing the same, and felt my feet leave the floor.

"Wow! Wowowowowow!"

"Way cooler than walking," Navi raised an eyebrow. "Back this way." I don't know if she expected me to go in a straight line, but I wiggled around and did loops. Looking at the ground below me made me feel a bit sick for a moment, before remembering I was in total control and soared after Navi. I can't really describe how it felt to fly. It was like a wish come true. I knew it wouldn't last, and quickly caught up with her.

X X X

Riding in Link's hat was actually quite comfortable. It was warm and safe and it didn't smell; so long as you didn't focus on what you were sitting on then you were fine. We couldn't talk or else we'd be given away, but we could listen nicely to the conversations that were happening around us. Falco was talking to Fox about some past planet they'd been on where it was all jungly like where we were going. Ew. Jungles mean LOTS of bugs. I only just realised. And we soon ended up leaping into a conversation between Zelda and Link, and every time Link nodded or shook his head we got shaken up a bit unless we grabbed onto his hair. After about half an hour I got bored and started doodling in my sketchbook, and then after that I ended up playing naughts-and-crosses and hangman games with Navi. We attempted to do eye-spy, but all we could think of were 'hat', 'hair' and 'dandruff', so we soon gave up on that. I beat Navi twelve to ten in naughts and crosses but lost three to five at hangman. It was when Link stood up and wandered outside that I started to get excited. I could feel the cold air blowing at us through his hat. I could reveal myself soon, and go on the boat. Good job I don't get seasick. I could hear Pit and Isaac chatting in a really excited way about all the stuff they'd done (Pit was talking about having fought a giant dragon that had attacked the Flooball stadium in his home city. Whether or not that's true, I really don't know). Navi shuffled over.

"Any minute now. Wait until the boat starts going."

"Navi, I have a question." something had been sticking to the inside of my skull for a while, and I figured now would be a good time to scrape it off.

"Shoot."

"What will I look like to other people, in this form?"

"Like me, only a purplish kind of colour."

"Oh. Just wondering." we waited in silence for a while. We listened to everyone bustling about and to all the noise by the ferry. Then we heard a loud foghorn, and that was our cue.

X X X

Navi led me out of Link's hat.

"Let's go find those mates of yours and give 'em heart failure." she grinned.

"Aren't we trying to _stop_ them getting killed?"

"Ah, but that is nothing compared to scaring the socks off of someone. There!" she pointed to one of the tables in the corner, by the window, where the three of them were sitting, listening to Roy. We fluttered over. I was going to miss being able to fly. It's just so _radically awesome_. Lucky Pit.

"Yo dudes." said Navi as we flew over.

"Hi Navi," said Isaac. "Hey…is that another fairy?"

"Weeelll…sort of."

"'Sort of' a fairy?"

"Technically. Go sit down." she instructed me, so I flew over and sat down next to Pit. She did something weird with her hands, and then suddenly everything got bigger again, and Navi's light pinged back on. And all three of the boys yelped.

"_Eleanor_?" Roy's jaw dropped so far it was practically touching his knees. "How in Paluntena's name did you _do_ that?" Pit poked my arm, just to check I was real. I indicated to Navi.

"Navi reckoned that since you lot don't have a fairy I'd have to do instead."

"The quirky sidekick." Navi probably would've grinned again, only you couldn't tell.

"How long have you been planning this?" Isaac also looked dumbstruck, but he was smiling.

"Since the dinner party. Navi turned me into a fairy at the train station," I explained. "Cool, right?"

"Hell cool. Welcome to the team!" Roy, who was sitting opposite me, gave me the second fist-pound that day. "But, uh, Navi, you might want to go back to Link. He's going the same colour as his tunic."

"Isn't that more of a reason to stay over here?" she did a short loop in the air. "But yeah, I guess I should go. See you dudes later!"

"Bye Navi." we chorused as she floated away. And then we all grinned at each other.

X X X

It took about twenty minutes until I was spotted. Roy and Isaac, opposite Pit and I, looked at whoever it was that was looming behind us.

"Oh. Hey, Marth," said Pit. I looked over my shoulder and gave the First King the best innocent-puppy look I can give, but I'm just not as good at it at Pit or Toonie.

"Eleanor?" he frowned.

"Hi."

"But…how did you get here? You weren't on the train."

"Long story short, I snuck away in Link's hat."

"_What_?" he pulled a disbelieving face.

"Navi. Just…Navi."

"That makes a lot more sense," he sighed. "You've just thrown yourself into one of the most dangerous quests possible,"

"Don't give me your responsible adult blab. I'll be fine. I've got these guys," I flourished the three boys. "And everyone has to start somewhere."

"Yes, but why here?"

"Because these guys were going and I didn't want to miss out on the fun." Marth sighed again, but then he smiled.

"Just be careful." he said, and then strolled off.

"I thought he was gonna be angry!" said Roy. "He can be such a jerk,"

"Only when you annoy him, Roy." I pointed out. He shrugged, and we went back to playing eye-spy.

X X X

Stepping out into the air was incredible. This was air that no human had breathed for centuries! What a thought. And I was the first teenage girl to breathe it ever. Accomplishment. The ground was wet and squidgy and the air was moist. Before us was a jungle full of foliage and greenery and other fancy botanical terms, and probably a lot of animals too (and bugs, squick). Marth led us all forwards.

"Before we begin, I shall have to draw attention to the fact that our expedition has gained an extra member, Eleanor," he indicated to me, and I cringed as everyone looked at me. I hate being stared at. "And now, the first thing that we shall do today is set up camp. We will start the expedition tomorrow morning as soon as the sun rises," he declared. "All those that are able of flight (Meta Knight, Pit, Navi, that means you) please scout the area for possible locations for camp." Pit muttered something incoherent, but ran forwards a few steps and took off. When he got back Zelda led us on to the place which they'd found. Good job I knew how to pitch a tent, so long as there was someone to hold up the extra pieces while I stuck 'em all together. I pitched in between Roy and Isaac, and all four of us spent the rest of the day exploring the nearby area (I was terrified of getting lost, but when you have a guy that can fly, getting lost is nothing to be worried about). When it got dark and all the bugs started chirping (squick) was when Zelda told us absolutely _everything _about the quest.

"The item that we are looking for is a jewel known as the Eye of the Worlds. It was made by the Ancient People as a gift to what is referenced as a 'Higher Race', but the Gods turned it down, saying that this world and their's should not touch. This is where it is kept now, but with such power, it has many dungeon-like qualities. There will be monsters, traps and many, many obstacles to overcome…"

"But as I said before, this won't be anything new to you," Marth smiled. "The Eye is in the temple at the centre of the island. We don't have any maps, naturally, since this is all uncharted land and no one has returned from it before. If any short people try to sell you maps, refrain from buying any."

"Sheesh, we're not idiots," that sarcastic voice muttered from the back (no prizes for guessing who _that _was). This all sounded pretty damn exciting to me. Proper adventure! Whoo! Jungles! Whoo! Treasure! Whoo! Monsters! W – no. Wait. Monsters aren't good. And I can't fight…better stick close to the group. I kinda want to come back from this with all my pieces still attached (plus camera). Note to self: Do not wander off unless there is someone else with you. Stupid sense of direction…

**So we're on the island, and the quest has started. I need to do some research on temples for the next chapter (i.e. play Twilight Princess and watch Raiders of the Lost Ark), and most of it will seem pretty familiar. Hey, I'm all for being original, it's what I strive to do, but sometimes ****it's good to go back to your roots and remember Ye Olden Daes. Just not too much. See you then!**


	6. How Convenient

**I'm suffering from that problem which is loads and loads of characters. It's really hard to remember them all and get them all a fair part, which is why I've split 'em in two and shovelled half of them off. Sorry for the wait, by the way, I'm currently crashing in Canada and all the time I usually spend writing has been spent hurtling down the side of a mountain, so until I get back progress could be even slower than it usually is. Hopefully everyone will like this chapter more than they liked the last…**

Dinner was fun. Advantages of hammerspace: You can cram lots and lots of food into one bag (granted, quite a big one). It was venison all round tonight, and I love venison. Heroes are never vegetarians. You're starving, you're hungry, you ain't gonna faff around with nuts and berries. Nope, you chase after the next thing that moves with your bowanarrow. I watched to see which groups had drifted together. Snake, Ike and Falcon were grinning about something and Samus (plus one tiny yellow mouse) was sitting with Zelda, Link and Marth, probably making polite conversation. Mewtwo and MK were watching from the sidelines (somehow MK had managed to eat the little food he had taken without me even noticing his face) and, well, you get the point. I had three dudes. If any of you lot have a younger brother less than the age of ten, times that brother by three, give one wings and stick 'em around a campfire then you've got what I was sitting with. Roy had wolfed down his already (er…kinda like me) and Pit was still eating and Isaac was prodding it with his fork. Hey, if he doesn't want it he should give it to me…

"Here." Isaac held out the plate. Forgot he could read minds. That or he knows me well.

"If you're sure you don't want it," I took it from him and starting eating, probably looking like a cross between Roy and Pit. Aum nom nom… "Sho whf d'we leeff tmwff?"

"Eight, I think. Eugh…have to get up early…" Pit moaned. Good thing about being a non-girly girl among guys – they can speak Withyourmouthfull, which is a valuable language to learn. We all sighed in sympathy. Getting up early stinks. I finished chewing.

"And then we can quest like…I dunno, a big quest. Woo!"

"Yup," said Roy, looking at the fire. He's pretty pyromanic. If Zelda hadn't lit the fire with her Din's Fire then Roy would've been the one to do it. You can see the manic gleam in his eye when he's running around burning stuff. "Not a proper campfire without s'mores." he said, as though he had been thinking about it for a long time. We all nodded. S'mores are delicious, and that is something everyone on the trip could agree on.

X X X

"GET UP! FOOD!" a yell woke me up with such a jolt that I had to lie there for a while recovering. There was a soft voice, Zelda's outside.

"Yes, Falcon, that'll do."

"Don't mention it, Princess." ugh. Idiot racer. I got up and threw on some clothes, ran a comb through my hair and picked up the Pokeballs so I could feed the Pokemon within. I know that the two of them Pokemon seem like minor characters, but trust me, later on they're going to be a lot more important. Roy, who was the only guy of my group that was out already, winced as I tossed Nute out. Mystery came and sat on my lap while everyone else crawled out of their tents, blinking in the light. There wasn't a lot for breakfast, just some bread and water, but while I was feeding Mystery a Poffin, along clunked the woman in the orange armour.

"Hi Samus." I said, looking up at one of my favourite Smashers. Heck, my favourite female Smasher out of 'em all (um, that's not a lot).

"I never heard the fully story on how you managed to sneak here without anyone noticing. To do with them, I suspect" she indicated to Roy and Isaac (Pit was going for an early-morning flight…weirdo), who were bickering light-heartedly about something. I shook my head.

"Nope."

"First time for everything."

"It was Navi's idea. She said that them three needed their equivalent of a fairy guide and said I'd fit the bill, so she brought me along."

"So you stowed away in Link's hat?"

"Yup."

"Didn't think I'd ever get to say that," she shook her head. I grinned at her, and finished my glass of water.

"Nute! Leave Roy alone! C'mon, Nute!" I called at the Luxray, who gave me his usual stoic look and then padded over, letting Roy, who had been freaking out, relax again.

"Nice lion. Pokemon, is it?" her hand hovered over Nute's head but stopped when he glared at her. I nodded.

"Yeah. I'm not much of a Trainer but I'm not awful."

"If what Marth says is true, you're going to need those Pokemon. There's a lot ahead of us," she said. I was about to reply but Pichu bounded up and tapped on her foot, before bounding off again, waiting for her to follow. She sighed. "Better go check this out. See you later, kid."

"Bye," I said as she clunked away again. I stroked Nute's mane and patted Mystery. Good job I had trained these guys a little while I was in the city.

X X X

We spent three days trying to get to the temple. Three, long, mosquito-bitten days. It wasn't fun, let me tell you. Not fun while we were walking, anyway. Having to put up with knowing that Pit was soaring overhead, having to put up with my stupid short legs, having to put up with Falcon and Ike arguing loudly, having to put up with Roy and Mewtwo causing a mini riot…well, that was quite funny, actually. Who'd have thought that a pyromanic redhead and a psychic legendary Pokemon would end up being friends? Saying that, though, I think Roy just amuses Mewtwo. He amuses everyone, just by being a berk. When we got to the temple…well…what can I say…

"_OH. MY. GODS._" was about as close as I could get to anything. And then I couldn't stop saying it. "Omigod. Oh. My. Gods. Oh. My god. Ohmygods."

"Eleanor? Stop saying that. You never seen a temple before?" said Pit. I nodded. It was the _hugest _thing I had _ever _seen, and ever would see. I can't even describe how huge it was. The sheer size of it blew my train of thought straight of its tracks for several moments, until Isaac poked me in the ribs and made me squeal, much to his enjoyment. I considered decking him in the face, but settled with a mean glower. My brain and my mouth seemed to be connected again, so I boldly went forth with a wise statement.

"And ancient people made this? It's bigger than the goddamn Palace!"

"Actually the Gods built it," said Pit matter-of-factly. "It's mentioned in the Cratory." for those of you non-religious people, the Cratory is kinda like the Angeleican form of the Bible, only more like a history book 'cause the Angeleican Gods don't want people to forget how lucky they are that they weren't smited. Or smit. Or smote. Or, y'know, generally kaboomed. The thing with Angeleican Gods is that they're rulers, not like Gods we got down here. Aaand I'm drifting off again. Having your train of thought blown up by epicness isn't good for your mental health. We watched as Zelda walked up to the huge, main, circular door. It had a funny mark on it, like something from an Aztec pyramid, and a handprint mark lower down, at chest-height.

"It's written in Runes," I heard her say to Marth. "'Only the courageous may pass', it says."

"Let me try." Marth put his hand in the mark, but nothing happened. There was the sound of a fairy clearing her throat.

"I'm sure you're pretty courageous too, Martha, but Link here _is _the Bearer of the Triforce of Courage." she pointed out. Marth grudgingly let Link to the front. Link put his hand in the space, and, not surprisingly, another one appeared. He put his hand in that, and pushed. Despite the ridiculous size of the door it rolled back easily, shifting eons of years of dust.

"We're in!" Navi shouted. Several of us cheered. And we advanced into the gloom.

X X X

"There may well be many other traps for us to encounter here," said Zelda once we were in the first room. "Navi, I trust you are making a map as we go along?"

"You got it," she said from up on Link's head. She brandished a large piece of paper. Large by her standards, anyway. Zelda lit one of the convenient torches on the walls, allowing us to see where we were better. It was a giant hallway kind of thing with two staircases at either end, symmetrical but leading to different doors. One of them was broken (typical), and there were two doors at either end of the room. One was locked with the typical LoZ-ish chain-and-lock, but the other wasn't. Come to think of it, the whole place looked like something out of LoZ-cross-Indiana-Jones. And the two are pretty close to begin with.

"I think," said Zelda, turning to face us all. "We will now split up. I will lead one group and Marth will lead the other. Lucario, Snake and Samus, if you would please be on my team…"

"Yeah."

"Sure." they said, separating themselves from the groups.

"In that case, Mewtwo, Link and Ike, I would like it if you could come with me." Marth asked.

"You got it." said Ike, grinning. He's alright, for a meathead, and for some absurd reason he's good friends with Marth. No, I don't understand it either. Zelda took her turn again.

"Let's see…Captain Falcon, Pit and Isaac," they walked over. I gave Roy a panicked look. Don't separate me from all my friends! "Also Eleanor and Pichu."

"NOOO!" Roy cried. Aw, poor Roy…I felt really sorry for him now. Marth sighed.

"Roy, Meta Knight." he said. Roy gave us one last backwards glance before trudging over. I was worried for a moment, but Ike gave him a friendly clap on the shoulder and I decided that Roy had Ike and he had Mewtwo, even if he didn't have Pit and me and Isaac. He'd have to make do without me. Zelda beckoned us all closer.

"We will take the downstairs floor." she pointed to the unlocked door. Our new team followed her there.

X X X

Zelda lit all the torches in the room. On the floor there was a pattern on the tiles. Purple tiles, green tiles, red tiles, yellow tiles. And in the wall along one side…(if I tell you to cue the Indiana Jones theme, I think you can probably guess).

"Looks like a trap!" I helpfully pointed out. I wasn't sure what came over me. Sounded like it needed a 'Hey!' at the front.

"Why don't we send bird-boy to fly over it?" suggested Falcon. Pit shook his head.

"I don't have enough of a run up and the ceiling's too low." he said.

"Looks like we'll have to do it the old fashioned way." said Isaac, summoning a psynetic hand and stepping onto it. He drifted over to the trap. I noticed one of the darts shifting as he approached.

"Isaac stop!" I yelped, just in time to see him jump up as a volley of arrows flew out. He whizzed back onto land, wide eyed.

"I don't think it's going to let us cheat." he said.

"Then there has to be come kind of code. This is a temple! You never have to rely on dumb luck in a temple!" I said, almost hitting Isaac in the face with my flailing hands. "Sorry."

"True, there has to be some sort of logic to it. A test to see if we are worthy of the challenges that await us." Zelda nodded.

"It's not going to be so obvious that all the green ones are good and all the red ones are bad, is it?" said Samus. "Judging from the angle it went in, I would say that was what that guy did," I wish she hadn't pointed out the skeleton that was pinned to the wall on the other side. Eeeeeegh…what a way to go…

"Hm." said the Princess. Then she spread her arms. There was a flash of green and a faint breeze, and she was standing on the other side. "It seems to be safe. Though the small matter of getting everyone across may pose some difficulty."

"I have an idea!" said Pit. He held out his hand, and the little leather thing with the arrow on expanded into his huge shield. "I can fit someone else underneath here too. Then go back and forth and we're done!"

"It _never _works like that in temples," I said. "Then again, sounds like a good idea." everyone looked at Zelda for confirmation. She nodded.

"Pit, go ahead. Please bring across the tallest first. That would be you, Samus,"

"My armour is good but not _that _good." Samus walked over to Pit and they ducked under his shield. I was the last one 'cause I'm so short (I did get to carry Pichu, though, and that little mouse is so cute I don't even know). I could hear the arrows hitting the shield and it made my heart stick in my throat until I got to the other side.

"First task completed," said Snake. "We need to move on."

"Wait, there's something over here." Falcon plucked something off the wall. It was a piece of parchment. Zelda took it from him.

"It's…a note from a past adventurer. To remind himself of where he is, by the looks of it…he's written down the code to get past this room!" I thought about that for a moment.

"How convenient."

**A little **_**too **_**convenient. If you think that this is just a straight storyline, don't you worry, there'll be something interesting in the not-too-distant future. I hope.**


	7. AAAAAAAAAAAAAH

**Don't you hate it when you want to put feeling into a story, but just don't know how? That's what happened when it came to the Gohma bit. So, you know, just imagine a room filled with your worst nightmare, and there you have it. Thought I should warn you in advance.**

The worst part about the whole thing was how _quiet _it was for most of the time. There weren't any mooks or minions or monsters. There was evidence that there were some around but none in the actual flesh. Hey, that's not a bad thing, but to a bunch of mostly experienced temple spelunkers like us the silence was super creepy. It's that point when you walk into an empty room and you're like 'oh crap something bad is going to leap out at me'. You know what I mean? And then suddenly a midboss leaps out at you. It was like that _all the time_. My heart was in my mouth by the time we'd dodged a few mind-traps. It was time for a break. Lucario, with Isaac's help, was going to contact Mewtwo to find out how Marth's team was getting on, Zelda was going to get a fire started and the rest of us were going to flake out. We'd been going all day, and we reckoned that this would be a good place to set up camp (have I mentioned how great hammerspace is yet?).

"Godsdamnit how much more of this place _is _there?" I groaned, staring at the mossy ceiling.

"There's still a big chunk missing out of our map," Snake's gruff voice spoke from somewhere beyond my feet. "You're not doing anything, why aren't you the one makin' the map?"

"I can't tell my right from my left, let alone make a whole map." I told him. I'd told them lots of times. I was pretty sure they all felt I was keeping them behind a bit, but sometimes I could see things they couldn't. Not in a supernatural way or anything, I just didn't know this heroing stuff as well as them and could take it from a different angle. Thank the Gods for Zelda, though. Without her I'd have gone insane. A shadow fell across my face as Isaac and Lucario walked over. Isaac spoke to us all.

"Mewtwo said that Link, Roy and Marth are a bit wounded, and Navi's a bit shaken up. They went ahead and came across a nest of some kind of large spider. Link seems to have come off the worst -" I watched Zelda's face go back to a calm position. "- but apart from that they're doing well. But these spiders are all over the place now."

"Please please please let them not be on this floor too," I prayed to whatever Gods would be listening. "Please."  
"What? You afraid of 'em?" Falcon's bass voice also came from somewhere near my feet.

"Afraid? Ha. Ha. No."

"Yeah, right."  
"I ain't gonna deny it, I hate spiders. I'd run a mile if I saw an ordinary-sized one, let alone a _huge _one."

"Pah, spiders are nothing."

"Falcon," Zelda used her 'shut up' voice, and then went back to the normal smooth voice. "Perhaps you could be so kind as to get out some of our supplies? I'm sure we could all do with a drink and something to eat."

"Too right." Pit said from next to me. I heaved myself upright.

"When you have food, you know everything's going to be alright." I said, in my best knowing voice. And I meant every word.

X X X

The food wasn't so good as to make us all be quiet because we were eating. We sat in a kind of awkward silence, when you desperately want someone to say something but you really don't want it to be you. It was Zelda who made an attempt to break it.

"So, I understand that most of you came to the city from abroad," she said. "Well, considering the city's age, all of you came from abroad." we all nodded or grunted.

"It's a good city," Samus' helmet-muffled voice made us all look over at her. She was like that sometimes. She could be silent for hours and then continue in conversation. Made you wonder what she was thinking about when she was silent. "What better place for a hunter to spend her bounty?"

"Or take a break from work." Snake added.

"I came to make my fortune," said Isaac. I didn't really know much about why my friends were here. It wasn't something I'd ever asked them. "Not really found it yet, but I can't complain."

"What about you?" I turned to the Angel on my right.

"Paluntena sent me on a special mission." he said, fluffing his wings out in the same way that a bird fluffs up its chest.

"What kinda mission?"

"Well…she didn't really say. She just said I had to come down here…and I'd know when I found it. I think this was it. Big quest and all. Actually…I don't really know why _you're _here."

"Besides that I wanted to see it? Kind of a dumb reason, actually." I told them, still meaning every word.

"Still a reason."

"Nah, it's really stupid…" I could still feel them looking at me. I hate being the centre of attention. "Well…my mum told me that my dad was a Smasher…probably long gone now, just…yeah. Told you it was a dumb reason." now please stop looking at me. Please.

"That's still a valid reason," said Zelda. "Quite a valiant one."

"Really? Now that I think about it it's kind pointless."

"You never know…Falcon, how about you?"

"Who doesn't want to live in Smash City?" he said. And I bet he meant every word of it.

X X X

We were up early again the next day (gaarhsdfgl) to carry on with our quest. Some of us didn't look like we'd gotten much sleep. Snake's bush of dark-brown was looking even more scraggly than usual, and Falcon wasn't even present at breakfast.

"I hope you all slept well. It will only get harder from here onwards." said Zelda.

"Midboss." I heard Isaac mutter from nearbyish. That was another reason why I hated the silence. It meant that I hadn't gotten any practise fighting/running away from small monsters, which would make it really hard when we came up against a really big monster, like a midboss. We'd been finding handy little notes left by the previous adventurer all over the place, giving us handy little tips for getting us past some rather larger traps. Well…until we found another skeleton. And then there weren't anymore. It was horrible. I wished I hadn't started thinking about that while I was eating breakfast, but I don't lose my appetite for long.

"Mornin'." I looked up as Falcon wandered around the corner. He had his helmet under his arm for just a couple of moments before he plonked it over his head. Now that I'd seen his actual face and hair I wondered why he was wearing it. He looked like girl-swooning material, but what would I know about it? How did he get his hair to look that flat when he'd just woken up? Godsdamnit, not fair…

"Eleanor? Eleanooooorr?" I snapped back from wherever I had just been and looked at Pit. "Sweet Paluntena, that's the first time I've not heard you give a big 'yes!'!"

"What did you say?" I blinked at him, since I couldn't do much else.

"I was asking if you wanted seconds."

"Oh. Yes!"

"That's better. You had me worried for a moment!"  
"Sorry," I said, nicking the bread from his plate. "Dohh worfy, ih wonf hffn ageff!"

"Glad to hear it." Isaac grinned.

X X X

Since hearing about the spiders I kept extra close to the rest of the group, next to Isaac. I had a horrible feeling that the spiders would have something to do with the midboss. Then again, we hadn't seen any other enemies. Maybe if a giant snake popped up I might feel better. I don't mind snakes. Or a Moblin or just _something_. Mostly I just trailed along after the rest of the group, glancing around for traps. We hacked (and by 'hack' I mean 'Falcon Punch') our way into another room. If Spiderman has spider senses, exposition fairies have guide senses. And unlike spideysenses, they don't tingle, they snap.

"STOPMOVINGTHERE'SATRAPINTHECEILING." and if they don't snap then they splurge, like what happens if you poke the yolk of a fried egg and it all splurges out, you know what I mean? And is it me or are almost all of my metaphors food related? Anyway, the best thing was that everybody stopped and looked up.

"I can't see anything." said Pit.

"Admittedly, nor can I," said Zelda. "Are you sure?"

"Yes! Look, that tile on the floor…it's obvious!" Lucario, who had been keeping out of the way up until now, hovered over. He experimentally dropped, applying a little bit of pressure onto the tile. And shot backwards as a huge slab of stone slammed down onto where he had just been.

"There are more of them, too." I pointed out.

"Thanks for pointing that out," said Falcon, using his snidey tone. "All we have to do is walk around the tiles, right?"

"We should still be careful. There might be more than one trigger," Samus warned them carefully. "Isaac."  
"Got it," Isaac stepped onto the psynetic hand and floated across. This time they didn't seem to have sensors. Though I am pretty sure I saw an arm hanging out of one of the sides of the walls…squick… "Seems to be OK. Oh, there's a door here. It's locked."

"Do we still have that key?" Snake asked, testing the tile in front of him with a foot.

"We do." said Zelda, walking forwards testily. Eventually Isaac just carried us across, two or three at a time. Zelda opened the door and we all walked in. It was a big, circular room. That Silence, which I think is now worthy of a capital letter, was so heavy here it was unbearable.

"Now this just feels really wrong." said Samus, keeping her voice down.

"Lucario, do something." whispered Pit.

_What do you suggest?_

"Check for auras."

_If it makes you feel any better. _his eyes glowed gold and his filters flew up for a moment. Then he snapped back again. _If you are arachnophobic, _he said, slowly, _I suggest that you do not look up. _

"Oh Gods, you just had to say it," I groaned, and then made a break for the door. There was a spider web across it. "Isaaaaac…"

"Gah! Knewitwastooquiet!" I heard him say. I didn't want to turn around. I didn't want to do anything, for fear of finding out.

"Ehh…if it makes you feel any better, they aren't _that _big!" Pit's voice came from somewhere above. I heard arrows fire. Snake darted past my line of view, pursued by a spider almost the same size as him. I wish I could tell you that I went after it, throwing rocks. I wish I could tell you I pulled the webs off of the door. Instead, I screamed.

X X X

Everyone is afraid of something (unless they're a robot, but no one here is a robot), and there are lots of people who are afraid of spiders. If you are one of those people, imagine a spider the size of your hand, a metre away from you. Now imagine that fear magnified by ten, all around you can't escape from it. After that scream had run out of breath, I was having difficulty even breathing in. A fireball span past me. I couldn't move, fear had grabbed my throat and I felt dizzy. I finally understood the phrase' paralyzed with fear'. It was Lucario who pushed me to the edge of the room.

_Close your eyes. Calm down. We won't let them touch you. _he said. He didn't say it in the soft way which other people would; he said it like it was a matter of fact, which made it feel truer. I sat on the floor with my knees hunched up and my eyes screwed up tight. After I had stopped shaking, I looked up. There were quite a few spider carcasses lying around, arrows stuck in their abdomens or body parts scattered by explosion. Dead spiders are definitely an improvement on alive spiders. Pit had web on his wing, which was affecting his flight. I turned my attention to Isaac, who was floating around, spewing psynergy. The spiders still made me squick. If only I was a fairy again. I'd do anything to be a fairy again. To fly upwards into one of the little niches or hide in a hat or THERE'SASPIDERCOMINGTOWARDSME

"Eleanor!" I heard a shout, but I wasn't sure who it was. I was pretty sure who it was that did the heroic thing and leap to my rescue. At the last second, of course. He had to wait until I could see all eight of its eyes, all the hairs on its body, it's huge fangs and abdomen…I felt like I was going to puke, and I probably would, if it wasn't for the:

"FALCON…PUNCH!" that echoed across the room again. OK, Falcon is annoying and a jerk with not much between his ears, but he is brave. That's what heroes are. I couldn't see his eyes but I could feel him looking at me. He looked like he might say something after the spider had thudded against the opposite wall, but he darted off again with another yell.

X X X

When the last spider was down, they all kapoofed. Not exploded, just sort of piffed and fizzled away. A chest (treasure chest, that is, not the other kind) appeared in the middle of the room, the particles of chest matter pulling themselves together. Now we were cooking.

"You OK?" said Isaac. I nodded. Now they were all gone the relief made everything feel so much better.

"Give me snakes any time." I declared. I don't know if anyone else saw, but Falcon shuddered.

**Indiana Jones theme. Doo de doodoo, doo-de-doooo. I can't actually think of anything witty at the moment to say, but by the time the next chapter is up I'll **_**probably **_**be back in England. I'm writing this from Canada, eh. (and I know that Canadians do not say 'eh', so you don't need to tell me).**


End file.
